Steam Whistle Will Not Whistle?

[MD Woeste]

Our family heirloom Lunkenheimer steam whistle will not make a sound. We have attached it to an air compressor with up to 140 lbs pressure. Any suggestions please. thanks

[Frank Martin]

I don't know very much about steam, so this may be completely off base. But it seems like a steam whistle should require a tremendous volume of gas (steam or air) in order to whistle. If you're trying to run the whistle with compressed air supplied through an ordinary 1/4" or 3/8" air hose, even at 140 psi, you may not be able to move enough volume through the whistle in order to make it sound. It would be even worse if you were just blowing into the bottom of the whistle with a rubber tip blow gun. That would be even more of a restriction. So, my uneducated guess would be to try to force more air into the whistle, not just more pressure. For example use a larger diameter hose, or plumb the whistle directly to the compressor using something like 1/2" or 3/4" pipe.

[Larry Evans]

I also have very little experience with steam or whistles but I do have a Lunkenheimer catalog from 1908 with some interesting data.

For example there is a table showing volume and pressure requirements for various whistles from 1 inch to 6 inches in diameter. Per this table a 2 inch diameter whistle should operate with 25 cubic feet per minute at 40 psi. If you are interested I would be glad to look up the specs for your whistle. To further confuse the issue they also made a line of low pressure whistles that operated in the range of 3 to 20 psi. A picture of the whistle would help.

Regards,
Larry Evans

[Mike McKnight]

Check and make sure dirt daubers haven't built mud nests in either valve part or the bell. Either one and she won't blow right.

Mike M

[Tom G]

I have tried blowing steam whistles, using an air compressor, and it doesn't work very well. You have to screw the bell down pretty far, to get a sound from the whistle, and even then, it isn't very loud. The bell is mounted on a stud, and can be screwed up and down, to adjust the sound. I have a small whistle which can be held in one hand. With the bell screwed down, I can make it whistle, by simply blowing into the base. With larger whistles, it's a different story. You can apply air pressure to the whistle, and start screwing the bell down, until you start getting some sound. Don't expect much sound, unless you have a small whistle.

[Randy Hart]

I have a few steam whistles and have made some as well and it was explained to me that steam will expand when released and create much more volume before it hits the bell than air.. thus the other posts are correct in that a closer gap is required to get one to toot. I have a small Lunk that came right off of a steam application and I had to drop the bell almost half way down to get a pure sound.. more like a shrill chirp, it's no bigger than a 12 ga shotgun shell dia.. hope this helps
Randy Hart ohio

[Phil P]

Hello

Have a look at this whistle. This whistle works on both air and steam. On steam it sounds like the full sizes whistle, on 100 lbs. of air it is a much higher pitch. This is a 1/8 replica if the original. The inlet is 1/8 pipe. Steam is much denser than air so the sound is not the same.

www.sallyscoffees.com/whistle/DSC00927.JPG

Phil P

[MD Woeste]

Hi, the whistle bell is about 6 1/2 inches by 3 across. thanks

[MD Woeste]

Shop Vac made it work. Must be the volume of air needed. thanks

[Allan Crook]

Hi steam whisles work on several principles, as mentioned before the bell being moved up or down changes the tone, also the volume and pressure of the air available has an effect but the one item that is often overlooked is the gap a the diaphram plate at the bottom of the whistle it can also be adjusted as well but remember very small, I mean very small can change the tone as well. Try using a feeler gauge or very thin piece of brass shim stock to check the clearance as well as clear out any dirt. Hope this helps

Cheers Al